>So until we reach a time when non-Gloranthan supplements would not
>reduce the number of Gloranthan supplements published I don't want to
>see them done.

I don't know about you other folk out there, but IMHO the Vikings-Box
is one of the best RQ-publications available (it was what got me
hooked), and Land of Ninja is essential for Vormain on Glorantha.

As to how well they fit, Vikings has been the centerpiece for my
fantasy-campaign, so no wonder it fits. But I managed also to include
Gloranthan material into my world, as well as Grffin Island and (don't
boo!)  after some five pages of altering most of the background,
Eldarad. Land of Ninja and the part about Kralorela in the
Glorantha-box form the rules-background for the far-east art of my
world.

For me Glorantha is mostly a world to read about, but then I haven't
got access yet to the essential material that makes playing on
Glorantha fun - I mean the Big Rubble, Borderlands, the 2nd ed
Companion, not even the freshly released River of Cradles. Maybe after
I read that I might change my attitude, but even then my own world
will have priority in my GMing efforts.
 

That's why I prefer playing on my own world, leaving Glorantha as one
place where Heroquests take place...

Ghost Dancer writes:

> It was generally felt by all of us that the idea of skill increases only
> occuring after an adventure is somewhat hard to explain in real terms.
> ...

I agree. But from my own experiences in field archery I have to warn,
though: A lot of skill checks can be "fumbled", i.e. you deteriorate
your actual skill. Has anybody ever thought about less fixed values in
skills?  >From my experience at archery I know that sometimes I need a
warm-up-phase to reach my "real skill level". Then there are those
"mondays" - days you feel like someone cursed you. And last not least
there's the point oof using a skill after a long break, after letting
this skill get rusty. (I experienced this with my knowledge in foreign
languages).

So here come some revolutionary thoughts maybe leading me to the
guillotine:

Any skill can vary in a certain interval without actually changing the
value on the character sheet, say about 10 %-points in both
directions.  I'd suggest that dependent on first luck in any given
skill a daily adjustment of 1d6-3 points is made. Checks are marked as
usual. Whenever there is a short time for recollection, the character
can try an experience roll (eg. when the enemies' ambush has been
fought off, the wounds have been taken care of, and the group starts
planning their next steps). If this succeeds, the actual skill score
is readjusted by say 1d8-3 or 1d10-4. One might also deal out negative
skill checks for spectacular failures (not necessarily fumbles).

When after approx. one week the actual skill differs more than 15
points from the value on the character sheet, some more permanent
change was made. Adjust the value on the character sheet to the actual
value minus (or in cases of bad luck, plus) 10.

I'd like to comment that I prefer GMing or playing characters in the
50 to 80%-skill range. I can't stand running bloody greenhorns for
long, so they better learn quickly to a reasonable value, and then
have difficulties to reach full mastery.

I do see some difficulties with the 90%-clause for Runelords, but then
by this system there ought to be some changes before the freshly
qualifying candidate reaches his temple. So either the candidate has
achieved a safe margin for his (or her) entry examination, or he
relies on luck and daily form (as most students today do). There ought
to be something like short term memory for passing examinations, too.
Or do you remember everything you knew for say your driver's license
examination right now? So have your characters bite themselves through
hard exercise before the examination, when motivation is high, and
then let them relax afterwards and deteriorate this peak knowledge
back to daily exercise values.

As to motivation for training (mentioned a bit earlier in the digest),
the above ought to work out as well. And like doing ski gymnastics
before going onto your ski holiday, the charakters can prepare for
dangers known beforehand, and will be surprised by and unprepared for
unforeseen skill uses, they will have to do with their rusty skills.

This was written as a reaction on the forementioned article and has
not (yet) been playtested. Comments and criticism is welcome!

(Sorry for this, I'm chemist and can't hold my big mouth shut)

In historical alchemy the main topics were NOT the production of
potions (the first chemist to live on this business was Glauber, as I
recall in the 17th century), but the transmutation from lesser metals
(as lead) to gold, and maybe to find the elixir of youth. In early
renaissance Italy this was augmented by a thriving poison brewing
business (just think of the fame of Lucretia Borgia).  Actual outcome
form these experiments were porcelain, the Paracelsus poison lore, and
black powder.

Main reagents for alchemy in historical sense were quicksilver and
sulphur. Quicksilver because its ability to solve/alloy any known
metal with the notable exception of iron, sulphur partly because it
was part of the metal ores.

Quicksilver alloys are called amalgams, best known for what dentists
put into holes in your teeth. If you take an amalgam and heat it, you
can distill the mercury off, and the dissolved metal remains. As far as
this concerns the known metals (or mint metals), no big surprise,
although a nice ploy for sleight of hand to transmute lead to gold.
(By the way, in Glorantha this process might be called "to clean the
metal off darkness, and fill it with Aether". In this case,
phosphorous (greek: fire-bearer) is an essential reagent.)

But concerning aluminium (German spelling, and I think also British),
this metal was historically not known before the introduction of
electrolysis.  In our fantasy world, this need not be so. First of
all, mercury has the wonderful ability to radically change the
chemical potentials of metals in amalgam. I don't want to stray into
real world thermodynamics, but I'd like at least to mention that
mercury is used for sodium electrolysis out of water solutions (carry
in mind what happens if you throw Na into water!). So take our fantasy
alchemist, let him mix up mercury, some clay (containing aluminium
oxides and alumosilicates), some mystically relevant components and
energies, and voila! he managed to produce some aluminium amalgam.
Suppose he manages to distill off most of the mercury, so what he gets
is some hard "amalgam", a new metal with new abilities. Enchant it
further, and you get a very light but durable metal, suitable for
armor for swimming. As to the colour, who knows how much copper was
in the mixture.

Other today metals might be obtained by similar procedures, e.g.
Sodium.  That is a way to explain the well known sodium statue form
the dry room behind the waterfall...

A note on mithril:

Mithril was "invented" by Tolkien before 1954 (when the last part of
the Lord of the Rings appeared). It matches roughly the description of
Titanium, a metal which was produced in kilogramm scale first in the
late fifties. In my gameworld, Mithril is kind of mineral titanium
metal, to be found in certain geological abnormities and naturally
happily dug out by dwarves.

(This is only part of a longer article I've written about rune metals
and alchemy for my own gameworld in German language. If there is
interest, I might translate it or some of the other articles...)

Joerg Baumgartner   joe@tpki.toppoint.de
     Free INT - the German RQ-Zine